INNOVATION AND CONTENTMENT vs FRUSTRATION AND PARALYSIS
As a young person I learned that if I would seek God, he would meet my needs. This took the form of great jobs that I didn’t quite deserve. As I learned to save and invest money, I made more mistakes than most of you in this room. Yet, God turned even my mistakes into financial blessings. He is in the business of working miracles for those who take him seriously at his word. He will meet your needs!
Jesus told us this in Matthew, “Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the non-believers seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
In spite of great experiences, which I attribute to God, I still fight worry and anxiety which can lead to a spiritual, emotional and leadership paralysis. This is the polar opposite of faith-filled wonder leading to creativity and innovative leadership.
DISCONTENT AND ANXIETY HAUNTING A FAMILY
I’ve known chronic anxiety, or “Generalized Anxiety Disorder,” my entire life. Since I blew an emotional tire, I’ve discovered that several people in my extended family constantly struggled with anxiety and worry. It can’t be coincidental that they were prescribed the same medication as I take today.
Anxiety and discontent stuck to my family a long time. Its presence may have spiritual ramifications, but there were circumstantial contributions as well.
My great-grandfather lost a large cattle ranch to the Great Depression. He was a strong man who eventually rebuilt his life and raised my father after his parents divorced. As a child I loved to hear his stories about his forebears and the Oregon Trail. His colorful life included a stint as an old-time Western marshal. However, he lived in the grip of fear stemming from his Depression Era financial loss. For him, if it happened once it could always happen again.
When my dad turned fourteen, he left his grandfather to live with his mother in Portland, Oregon. He moved from the countryside in order to attend a specialized (public) school in the big city. Upon arrival, he discovered that his mom had no room for him—the depression impoverished her to the point that she could not afford an apartment large enough to include him.
As a high school freshman, my dad found a job as a personal caretaker for a mentally ill man. On several occasions he awoke to find the man trying to strangle him. My father worked his way through high school with cardboard stuffed in the holes in his shoes. He would walk three miles, many Sunday afternoons, to stand on the corner in front of a friend’s house. He always hoped the family would invite him in for a hot meal. Most Sundays they did not. Lack of money heaped of anxiety on my dad during the days when he should have been playing sports, or just being a kid. That anxiety never left him.
In my family, anxiety hung in the air like fog over the ocean. My father worried about money until the day he died. That worry found its way into my own head.
You might ask, “Is this a spiritual matter or purely a product of environment?” “Is it possible that anxiety is inscribed on the chain of a person’s DNA?” Or, “is it a matter of a satanic assault against a family?” I don’t know the answers to those questions. Looking back, I do see that I have been prone to unreasonable worry all my life.
WE CAN CHOOSE TO THINK CORRECTLY ABOUT GOD AND OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
I’ve learned that I can exercise choice over how I will view my circumstances. I can choose to see through eyes of deprivation or to see the world in terms of God’s provision. The one leads to a sense of never having enough. The other...
